Tag Archives: Whitchurch

When I was asked to review Deli a GoGo I was very excited as I love my food and I’m always happy to try somewhere new. Deli a GoGo is situated on the busy Whitchurch High Street by the crossroads. When you enter you firstly come to the delicatessen which is full of a wide variety of tasty treats. They have a selection of olives, sun dried tomatoes and stuffed peppers which you can help yourself to or grab one of the pre packed boxes. They have an even bigger selection of cheeses both from Wales and around the world. The staff are extremely helpful and are happy to cut the cheese to a smaller size if there isn’t any available the size you want.

If olives and cheese aren’t your thing, they also have meats, wines, oils, homemade chutney, sandwiches, cakes and plenty of other food for sale. As I visited Deli a GoGo the week before Christmas they also had food hampers for sale that looked like they would be a welcome gift to any food lover. I would be really happy to unwrap one as a gift!

When you walk through the delicatessen you come to the café. The café is a small cosy area with simple white painted walls and wooden tables and chairs. It’s quite a small seating area and space is tight so it isn’t ideal if you have a puchchair as I found out. There wasn’t much space to leave the pushchair where it wasn’t in everyone’s way so if you have a baby, you should bear this in mind.

It’s a nice place to meet for a coffee as they have a huge selection of hot drinks available. I went for the Baileys latte and Mrs V chose the chocolate chai latte. We both agreed our drinks were delicious and creamy and a good price. They were very generous with the Baileys in my latte and both drinks came nicely presented with an Amoretti biscuit.

We couldn’t decide what to have for lunch so we went for the dish of the day – chargrilled vegetable pie and a dolcelatte, walnut and honey salad and shared them both. The pie was full of courgettes, aubergines, peppers, tomatoes and came with a salad garnish. The dolcelatte, walnut and honey salad was very tasty.

The prices were extremely reasonable with sandwiches even cheaper than some of the pre packed ones you get at supermarkets.

I’m a big fan of independent shops and eateries and Deli a GoGo is a winner in my book. If you’ve got time to stop and eat great, but if not, treat yourself to some cheese and wine to enjoy at home.

We were recently invited along to The Village Kitchen in Whitchurch for a meal. We had never been before and I have heard mixed reviews but it was definitely on my list of places to go if for nothing more than how lovely it looked from the outside. I love the simple, modern presentation, it always looks very welcoming.

As you enter, the bar is directly to your right and we were welcomed there and shown to a seat where we were promptly introduced to our waiter, Alex. Alex gave us menus and asked if we would like drinks and bread and olives before coming back to take our food orders.

Unsure what to order, we asked Alex what would go with our wine choices and he went to the kitchen to ask the chef and came back with his recommendations which was very helpful. Following this, we were then offered the option of trying a selection of starters and mains as they realised we were the reviewers. We thought this would be a good way to sample the menu and accepted. When writing a review, we usually prefer to remain ‘undercover’ but as we couldn’t on this occasion, I observed how other diners were treated and the food they were served and it was all very consistent and not just for our benefit and the service was good before they realised who we were.

To start, we were given the homemade fish cakes and spicy chicken wings. I was going to choose the fishcakes anyway so I was happy with this! I always think fish cakes are a good way to judge a restaurant as they can vary hugely in terms of fish content and consistency. I’m happy to report that these were very good ones. They were fresh, soft and fluffy and had a good fish content. Very nice indeed. Although I’m not a fan of chicken wings, these ones were moist and tender and were marinated in a lovely sauce.

For the taste of the mains we started with a salmon dish. To be honest, I usually skip over salmon on a menu, I usually think of it as a boring option but after this, I will start being more open-minded. This one was beautiful and by far the nicest dish I tried! The salmon was well cooked and was served in a delicious mushroom and sea food sauce. The sauce had a real depth of flavour and a hearty amount of fish (prawns, calamari and mussels). I really enjoyed it and in fact I ate far too much, forgetting I still had the duck to try.

Salmon in mushroom and seafood sauce

The duck was served on a bed of celeriac mash with a selection of vegetables and an orange and plum sauce. The duck was cooked nicely and I couldn’t get enough of the celeriac mash (one of my favourites!) The vegetables were al dente which is very important to Ben, who takes an over cooked carrot very seriously! The sauce was nice although I could taste more orange than plum. The only complaint I would have if I was being very picky is that the skin on the duck could have been crispier and the overall consistency of the dish was rather ‘soft’ with the duck cut into slices and placed on the mash. As much as I enjoyed the celeriac mash, I think the dish needed to have a crunchier texture.

Duck in orange and plum sauce

By the time it came to desert we were seriously stuffed but a selection were bought over on a tray which I thought was a nice touch and persuaded us to indulge. Ben chose the strawberry fool which was seriously refreshing and a great choice after a heavy meal. I chose chocolate mousse which was nice but quite dense.
Overall, The Village Kitchen is a really nice place to eat. It’s stylish and modern yet still has a homely feel. The decor at the back of the restaurant makes you feel like you’re having dinner at a friends house. Staff are friendly and there is a lovely laid back atmosphere. Prices are very reasonable with starters at £5-£6 and mains at £8-£14 unless you have steak. I would definitely go back.

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On our hunt for a really good curry house, Ben and I tried Khazana in Whitchurch last week. It seemed quite impressive when we looked at the menu as it was serving regional dishes from all over India so we thought we might be able to get something different and quite unusual. I got quite excited when I noticed that they served momos and some fruity Bengali dishes. We spent some time in India last year and I really wanted to get stuck into some of the dishes I tried while I was there.

We were seated in a nice booth which I liked because it was quite private and even if the restaurant was empty (which it wasn’t) the booth still created a nice cosy atmosphere. The restaurant was a stereotypical Indian restaurant with red seats, paper table clothes and very smartly dressed staff. Staff were friendly and helpful and we were served quickly.

When it came to the important business of ordering, Ben chose a coconut and chilli crab cakes and I chose chillis stuffed with cheese only to be told that they were out of stock of and the supplier had stopped making them. What? Buying in chilli’s with cheese? Surely this is something that can be done by the chef? I was surprised but changed my order to potato momos.

When are starters arrived, we were a little disappointed. Ben’s crab cakes were very processed. They were flat, cheap and very basic. For the price of £6, we expected better. My momos were ok but not like any momos I have ever tasted. Traditional momos are like dumplings but these were made of a hard shell, like pastry. Momos (originally from Tibet) were my favourite snack when I was Gorhkaland in India but they were nothing like these.

Unfortunately, it didn’t improve much with the main. Ben’s Lamb curry was nice but it was supposed to include butternut squash and potato but it did not. My curry was a totally new culinary experience for me! My fillets of mint chicken cooked in herbs and spices and finished with carrot and cheese sounded very unusual and I couldn’t wait to try it. I was expecting a lovely minty flavour with a topping of grated carrot and paneer. However, my MINT chicken turned out to be MINCE and the carrot was cut into discs placed on top with grated melted cheddar! In fact there was a bizarre mix of chicken pieces and mince. It was more like a curried bolognese! Very odd but not unpleasant, just very annoying to not get what you ordered.

My 'mint' chicken curry

Overall, we weren’t very impressed with the food. The dishes were more expensive than your average curry house and if we had got what we thought we were going to get based on the menu description, it would have been worth it. However, we did not. On the plus side, staff were lovely and it looked the part. If you like curried bolognese then give it a try!

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On our quest for the best food in Cardiff, we realised that we hadn’t been to many restaurants in Whitchurch so on the recommendation of a friend we tried Mediterraneo.

Mediterraneo is right in the heart of Whitchurch Village and looks very much at home. It is a modern and stylish affair with a well packed brick bar at the entrance and a simple decor which oozes rustic and mediterranean charm. We could only get a table at 7pm on this busy Friday night which shows how popular it is. The atmosphere was laid back and not at all pretentious with people dining in couples and in larger groups.

The menu was quite extensive with a good mix of seafood, meat and pasta dishes. I was glad to see that it wasn’t all pasta and pizza. The thought of the lobster platter made my mouth water but it was quite expensive at £25 (although I think probably worth the money) so we opted for a starter and a main instead.

My starter of goats cheese cooked in breadcrumbs with caramelised onion was very good and very substantial. Ben’s starter of butterflied king prawns in a garlic and basil cream sauce however, wasn’t quite as we expected. The prawns were pretty small and he only got four! At £8 for a starter that worked out at £2 per prawn! That’s a pricey prawn. The sauce was a touch watery and under seasoned too. Not what you would expect for the price unfortuntely.

For our main we opted for paella for two. It came in a large dish which we helped ourselves from. It was very nicely presented and the portions were large. In fact, we couldn’t finish it all. There was a generous amount of meat and fish which included the usual chicken, chorizo, prawns, mussels and calamari. The mussels were well cooked and the prawns needed skinning. I love meals where you can dig in and get messy so I was happy to sit there peeling the heads of my prawns. They taste so much better that way! Although the paella was nice, I felt that it was slightly lacking in depth of flavour. The sauce was tomato, white wine and chilli but it just tasted of tomato, I certainly couldn’t taste the chilli.

We decided not to have desert, mainly because we were so stuffed from the paella but also because nothing on the menu really stood out. The options were very average, cheesecake, fudgecake, creme brulee etc but nothing out of the ordinary.

Overall, this is a lovely place. The decor is stylish, the atmosphere is just right whether you’re having a nice romantic meal or out with friends and staff are friendly. However, it is quite expensive and for the money I would expect more than four prawns for £8.